Finding Hope
by Rayver1936
Summary: Modern Timeline, follow Astrid and Hiccup through their last year of high school
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was a cold night, party music filled the air with ear shattering bass music, along with the distinct scent of alcohol and vomit mixed together to form one pungent atmosphere that could cause instant vertigo to anyone who has the misfortune of coming across the smell. Which is everyone inside the house considering their all completely drunk the aroma doesn't seem to be much of a bother. But for those unlucky few who were sober enough to actually think and focus inside the house it was like being inside a sewer with fresh vomit rushing through the floors and in this case the walls and everywhere else. The only place that can be classified as safe, safe being vomit free, saliva hungry guys free, and bitchy whiny girls free were the masters bedroom in the second floor. But only the prestigious can enter that being the owner of the house and his girl, and right now the room is suddenly occupied by two random teenagers...

"Hah... Finally hah.. i can breathe again.. Hah" the blonde girl exclaimed panting and out of breath, "hey babe! What took you so long? I was getting lonely here all by myself" said the guy with curly locks and almost too tight t-shirt that barely even fits him, barely containing his well-toned and developed muscles

"I told you not to call me that" said the blonde with an irritated expression and somewhat impatient tone

"But, b-" "again, i dont like it, get your drunken ass up, let's go" she cuts him off almost instantly as the b sound was uttered

"Cmon astrid whats the hurry? How bout you get your ass down here instead" said the guy while suggestively smiling and pointing to the space between his legs

"Augh.. Seriously scott i need to go, i have pratice tomorrow" covering her face with her palm while sighing at the sight of her boyfriend drunk out of his mind yet again. it was the annual friday party of berk high everyone who's anyone is invited it usually happens in the house of some alfa male jock, or maybe anyones house that has pool or something interesting enough to drink on, and this time it was on some jocks house who said it's his birthday and wanted to spend the occasion by being as drunk as he possibly can and what do you know, his wish came true, nearly naked on the couch with nothing but a sock to cover his dick while hugging what he says was his sisters teddy bear but was really his, well he forgot to hide the small detail sown on its ass, his name "tanner"

"But we just got here, and i know you can't resist this" still having the same suggestive smile on him while repeatedly flexing both of his biceps and peks

"We just got here 5 HOURS ago, and augh!.. I don't have time for this" looking at her watch and realizing its already 1:30 am which means no sleep and no sleep means no energy and no energy isn't going to help her maintain the volleyball ace status she has, right now. And it definitely won't do her any good engaging in any "strenuous" activities before her practice match

"Cmon babe... i haven't even congratulated the birthday boy yet" she instanly has the urge to punch him in the face for not listening and once again referring to her as babe, but thinks twice when he vomits to the ground trying to stand up. Even though they've been dating for three long years, she still resented being referred to as babe, whilst in private atleast. In her opinion it makes her seem weak and frilly which is exactly the opposite of her whole being and identity "the iron clad beauty Astrid hofferson" it was the nickname the other guys gave her and it fitted her all too well, sad to say those guys who made it up weren't so pretty after astrid heard about it, apparently she didn't like being called anything at all.. even if it hit the mark on so many levels

"We've been here for almost 6 hours now and you still haven't seen tuff?, in his own house... His the whole reason were having this party... Remember? Augh this is pointless.." she tries to talk sense to the wasted teen, trying to reason with what's left of his already tiny malfunctioning brain

"Huuh... I know, babe that's why we're here to celebrate right so relax.. Let's celebr- huuh" words slurring out of his mouth like vomit until he actually does vomit leaving astrid with a completely knocked out idiot to take care of

"Augh... Honestly why do i put up with This" gesturing to the alcohol induced zombie lying in front of her, maybe because he's the schools quarterback and football star and dating him would secure her status within campus and it helps keep horny guys off of her. She honestly didn't want all the drama that comes with other guys fawning over her, it would only serve as an annoying distraction, keeping her from achieving her goals.. to be an international athlete or atleast get out this town. to her one horny guy is better than a whole group of horny guys, and he doesn't really lack in the looks department either he could be model if he wanted to, besides dating scott was incredibly simple just smile and look pretty and if there's any problems sex was always his weak point so astrid always ends up on top(no pun intended), so it wasn't that bad, actually it was perfect, having the glamourous life any teenage girl would want. But right now she's thinking he's lucky his puke didn't stick to her dress or else he'll be sleeping on the side walk with the concrete as his bed

After a few minutes of pulling and heavy lifting, another figure enters the room almost bashing the door against the tv next to it "hey! You two hornballs hows the sex?" But the blonde girl was suprised to see scott lying in a small puddle of his own vomit which sends the girl into a frantic laughing fit holding her stomach and stomping on the ground

"Shut up, you know ruff.. for once maybe you could try helping out for a change" says astrid as she walks towards her boyfriend trying to position herself in order to carry his unbelievably heavy body

"Eww... im not touching that, wait a sec i gotta take a picture of this" she fumbles prying her pockets trying to find her phone after a few shakes her phone breaks free from her pocket and is now armed with a 5 megapixel camera ready to capture the embarrassing and disgusting moment for life

"ok.. Ready smilee, cmon scott smile a little why dontcha" she laughs at her own comment tongue sticking out of her mouth while focusing the camera trying to find the perfect angle until she zooms on astrids face who was less than pleased "oh cmon astrid, you're no fun" as she finally presses the screen and a loud camera shutter sound was heard, ruff upon seeing the photo laughs as hard as she can snorting in between breaths

"I swear rachel if you dont delete that im gonna kill you" as she plainly stated with eyes that stare at her clearly insinuating her seriousness all the while still carrying the big pile of wastedness on her shoulders

"I'd like to see you try hofferson, besides look how happy you two are aawww... You two really make a cute couple" as she jokingly says showing the photo to astrid and laughing yet again at her own jokes.

"Yeah, Real happy" says astrid with an obvious sarcastic tone and finally giving a slight giggle as she looks at the picture and notices herself with her death glare on and scott half asleep still drooling, Astrid seizes the opportunity and grabs ruffs phone and taunts her by almost dropping and breaking it "ok, thorstone now we'll play by my rules... Or else"

"Damn, i just bought that... Fine astrid, what do you want? You do know I'll delete that even if you didn't tell me" ruff sighs to herself for letting her gaurd down while having a spat with astrid she should have known better

"Yeah right, you'll probably post it on Facebook the moment i give it back" astrid stares at her with a smug grin as she deletes the picture from her album shoving her phone in her pocket

"Ok you got me there, just tell me what ya want already?" Scratching the back of her head.

"First, help me get this drunken pile of muscle on his feet" astrid gestures to the passed out scott on her shoulders

"Fine... But you owe me for this one, augh.. Is he still alive? Cause he seriously smells like his dead" she grabs the vacant shoulder of scott and proceeds to lift him up all the while covering her nose with her only available hand

"I know, ok i owe you one... And stop being so dramatic, you'll get used to it by the time we get to my car" astrid and ruff slowly head towards the door of the room, scott was pretty heavy since he had all those muscles weighing him down, maybe because of all the muscle weight on his body, even though he isn't physically fat on the outside, inside his weight was that of a cow, or a fat kid like finn perhaps

"Damn, his heavy! Ow.. Astrid can't you just dump him here?" Ruff exclaims visibly in pain trying to walk downwards while carrying scott down the stairs "that way we won't have to babysit, and my parents would take care of the vomit and stuff, they'll understand since its basically tuff wasted but with more muscles"

"As much as i want to, and i Really want to.. i promised his mom I'd take care of him... Speaking of tuff where's the birthday boy anyway?" Astrid tries to avoid the topic of their relationship and asks while curiously scanning left and right for any signs of the birthday boy

Ruff laughs out loud at the thought of her brother "who knows! Probably running around the house wasted" Then she bursts into another laughing fit and continues talking "we dared that idiot to run around the house with nothing but a sock on his dick" she laughs even harder with a very satisfied and content expression on her face leaving astrid to respond with an awkward laugh

"And did he do it?" They slowly enter the living room where tuff apparently decided to take his nap and make the couch his bed

"See for yourself" ruff grins and immediately points to her half naked brother sprawled out across the sofa hugging his big white fluffy teddy bear

Astrid upon looking to where ruff points and realizing it was actually tuff and he did in fact have nothing on, quickly averts her eyes. She didn't want to see anything, definitely not nakedness. She prays that whatever disgusting thing she just saw she can just un-see, but it wasn't that easy

"Ok, my eyes are now ruined.. just tell him we went to his party" astrid covers her eyes and focuses on the black empty space in her eyelids and quickly dissolves the image burned into her eyes

"Yeah, yeah sure, IF he wakes up tomorrow he'll probably sleep through the whole day" ruff yet again laughs. They finally arrive outside the house and is only a few steps away from where astrid parked her car "so.. How's This working out" She asks just before dropping scott to the front seat of astrids car and points to his unconscious face

"Huh? What are you getting at?" She answers almost instantly confused at her friends question, "you know what i mean" ruff blankly stares at her face with eyes that clearly states dont play dumb all over them. Astrid shuts up for a couple of seconds staring at the grass, the ground anything to keep her from engaging eye contact with ruff

"Everything's great ok, so stop asking stupid questions" she feigns being aggrevated, with the whole expression on her face furrowed brows, scowling lips, then she attempts to end the conversation by storming inside her car and driving away as fast as she can but ruff clearly saw through her guise and cuts her off before she can slam the car door

"Really astrid? Really? I'm not as stupid as my brother, i know when youre lying.. And when you're faking something" she holds the car door and resumes her don't play dumb stare at her

"What? Everything's fine.. Now if youre done harassing me, I have practice in the morning" she answers coldly trying to be nonchalant and nonchalantly leave she fumbles for her keys searching every possible pocket she could've put it into only to hear the clatter of steel coming from the front side of the car

"Looking for these, i think you forgot to give me something" she grins evily and tops it off with an evil chuckle, then she stares at her friends face as she slowly exits the car and hands her her phone

"here, now my keys please" she extends her arms out eagerly waiting for her keys to be given back, ruff slowly hovers the keys down to her palm but just when astrid was about to grasp them ruff brings it back up "whoops, oh no you dont" she lets out a laugh followed by an evil grin "revenge is so sweat, now back to my rules hofferson" she confidently states pocketing the keys

"I don't have time for this ruff i have to get that drunken mess back home" she says with a clearly annoyed expression and pointing to the passed out scott in her car

"Nope, answer my question first, no answers no keys" she teasingly says laying out the rules to her quiz show

"Augh! How many times do i have to tell you were fine, were great, were perfect" she almost shouts her answer and is inches away from legitimately punching ruff in the face

"Ok fine, if you're just gonna lie to my face all night, here" she throws her keys towards Astrid's hands and she catches it almost instantly "thank you"she replies with an obviously annoyed tone "but seriously astrid, ive known you since our first year, you're not fooling anyone with your act.. you're not into him anymore right?" Hearing those words from ruff she lets out a big sigh and looks at scotts face and sets her eyes back to ruffs "it's complicated ok, but you're right about one thing... we make a cute couple" she finally eases up and the tension evaporates from the air followed by a laugh from ruff and astrid

"Whatever hofferson, atleast you're being honest" she smiles at her and waves goodbye as she heads back to the front door, astrid waves back and proceeds to start the engine. She drives off to the direction of scotts house, its not as far as her house from ruff and tuffs is but it's still a 30 min drive and their little intervention lasted more than she'd realized. It was already 2:30am leaving her with about 3 hours and 30 minutes left for sleep, she could already sense how shitty she's gonna feel in the morning. After 20 min of driving they luckily arrive 10 min early mostly because its already past midnight and the only traffic you'll get is one or two occasional trucks. Astrid slowly taps scotts face and shoulder to wake him up "hey, scott scott wake up already" but after a few minutes of useless tapping and shouting she gives up and tries an old trick that got him back up

"scooott hey.. wanna do it" and as soon as she whispers the provocative offer to him he wakes up from his alcohol induced coma "ok im u-up, im ready i-its g-good to go, l-lets do this b-babe" words still slurring like vomit but atleast no more actual vomit this time.

Scott starts furiously kissing Astrid's neck and grabbing her ass but before his lips reaches hers astrid blocks his face with her hand. It's strange even though they've been dating for so long they've only kissed for a small number of times it's not as little as below 10 but it doesn't exceed 50 and almost half of those kisses happened in their first year as a couple whereas during sex it should automatically add about 15 with foreplay alone and getting into the mood but it felt different.. especially after the one year mark, but it doesn't really bother scott or rather he's too much of an idiot to actually notice the lack of kissing in his point of view sex feels way better than kissing so he doesn't really see it as a problem

"Huh? thwast thwong thwabe?" Slurred words from being pressed against astrids palm, matched with a confused look and eager eyes

"Wait.. Let's take this somewhere more comfortable" it absolutely disgusts her that she has to act this way but if it would mean making him stand on his own and not carrying his heavy drunk ass all the way to the door then, a little embarrassement is fine "how about your room" she seductively whispers in his ears, ok its kinda sorta feels nice for her to be able to play with the quarterback to have him following her whims it gives her a rush of power of dominance and control

"Ok b-babe" scott stands up giddily, opens and exits the car and hurries to the front door, which to his surprise was opened by his parents and that means sexy time is officially over "h-hey dad, h-hey mom whats u-up?" Obviously still drunk it was a miracle he could stand let alone walk to the front door on his own but he managed, honestly what teenage boys can do when their horny. His father sighed both in relief and in disappointment

"huh, wasted... Again..huh Atleast you're still alive son" sighing once again while scratching his neck

"Wh-what are y-you talkin a-about dad im completely fi-" and before he can even finish his sentence he falls straight to the floor but of course his dad caught him before he hit the ground, probably run out of libido and couldn't keep his consciousness

"Thank you dear, i don't know where we'll pick up this idiot son of ours if you weren't there" his mom calmy says and shows a genuine smile that seems to mean genuine gratefulness "anyways he'll take it from here, dear" looking at her husband with expectant eyes, Mr jorgenson just sighed again while hoisting Scott's unconscious butt off the ground

"No problem mrs Jorgenson, it's the least i can do I'm his girlfriend afterall" smiling and pointing to scotts back "I'll be going now, have a good night mr, mrs jorgenson"

"Astrid dear, you should spend the night here, it's not safe for you to drive alone at this hour" again flashing a smile and a frown at the same time all the while seeming genuinely worried

"It's ok mrs J, i appreciate the offer, but i think I'm capable enough to get back home on my own" she refuses as politely as she possibly could smiling so innocently

"But astrid-" "seriously it's fine, besides i already texted my dad I'm on my way" she stops her and gives her a reassuring smile, "oh i see then, be extra careful ok" holding her hand and firmly grasping it "i will mrs J" smiling again and waving goodbye as she walks back to her car

"Phew, that was close, good thing i texted his parents" she admits praising herself while grinning contently. The last thing she wants to do right now is to have sex with scott, she drives off again and the road, the sky, and the wind all seem so calm and so peaceful this makes her ponder what she really felt about their relationship as a whole, she scoffs at nothing probably still furious at ruff for bringing up the topic and making her think about it more than the usual.

Part of her admits that ruff is right but who else is out there who'd be better for her, not to many choices either, even though they seem perfect for each other, star quarterback and star libero of berk high, the king and queen, there are often times when she feels empty like something's missing. She doesn't really expect to live forever as Scott's right hand woman, everything was set, it was already planned in her mind getting scouted for college as a varsity star, move to somewhere far from this place, hopefully getting full scholarship, with her grade's it's a possibility IF she keeps a straight A average but for now, "this" being popular and being at the top of the schools social ladder, is enough. It's one of the many perks of dating the football star, It all seems so simple yet so fragile maybe that's the reason she clings on to scott to maintain her perfect highschool life and status. How hard could it be? what could possibly happen? only one year left until she graduates and finally be able to get rid of scott and have a fresh start on her life not being tied down by anyone especially her dad...

It's already 3:00 am in the morning only 3 hours of sleep left, she slowly parks her car in the side walk close to her house, astrid is unusually sweating and heavy breaths are escaping her mouth as she opens the front door she looks for her father, she doesn't find him anywhere in the living room or kitchen she assumes he's already in his room upstairs. She lets out a big sigh of relief as her whole body eases up she continues to walk cautiously up the stairs, still slightly unsure if her father was really out again and walks across the hall she passes her father's bedroom, and there he is, passed out, too drunk to even notice her arrival although that was her plan all along, get home late enough for her father to just pass out in hopes of avoiding any and all forms of sick contact with him, she almost hurriedly walks to her room and once there she immediately locks the door. To astrid, her room was a safe place it was a haven of privacy, a place where she can be just astrid and not the "iron beauty astrid hofferson". It was where she and her mother used to bond in, it was the only place in the house that reminded her of her mother the only place that wasn't tainted with horrible memories of the past and unfortunately the present, that's why she strives for her future to be different and it will only get better if she's living somewhere other than this cursed house, but most importantly away from her piece of shit father... Astrid hurriedly climbs to her bed without even changing her clothes and as soon as her head touches her pillow, she's out cold not wasting a single second more of sleep...

End of chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The morning was fine but a tired air hanged over the room, rays of morning sunlight seep into Astrid's room through small openings of her window grills, they also happen to graze Astrid's eyes, waking her up earlier than she expected

"Haaaww... Augh, damn.. What time is it?" She gives a big yawn and lazily rubs her eyes, cleaning any form of sand still stuck between them. She looks at her watch and is certainly surprised but not at all pleased that she woke up 30 min early, what with the lack of sleep and mild hangover bugging her head. Unfortunately when astrid wakes up it's unlikely she'll fall back to sleep so she decides to start her usual warm-ups, which is jogging across the neighborhood until she's content with the amount of sweat she just lost.

After 20 min of brisk jogging she jogs back to her house, astrid is usually safe from her dad in the morning, mostly because he'll be asleep half of the day or if some miracle happens where he's awake he'll be too tired and hung over to even say good morning, not like he greets her good morning in the first place. But somehow today was oddly different, he was still hung over but he was standing up reading the newspaper while taking quick short sips of his coffee, naturally astrid plans to ignore him and quietly walk upstairs but before she can get past him he spoke up "oh astrid, good morning" still focused on his paper

"Yeah, you too" she nonchalantly says, while still facing the stairs she was determined not to look in his direction. she doesn't take the initiative to prolong the conversation, so she advances one step until her dad asks her a question

"Where were you last night?" He says with a curious tone that was different from his usual stern voice or even his slurred manner of talking when he's wasted

"I was out, at a friend's birthday party" she says while taking another step forward she could see the door of her room from where she was standing, she wished she could just run towards her room and avoid any kind of conversation with her father

"Oh.. Why didn't you come home? I was worried about you" he finally closes his newspaper and looks directly at Astrid's back, it was the only thing that was facing him

She scoffs just before responding "i did, you were just too drunk to even remember it" she coldly exclaims she felt that her dad was somewhat confused at her answer and tries hard to remember

"I guess i was...listen astrid, abou-" he tries to recall some of his last actions and was able to somehow piece together the fact that he was indeed wasted last night, he tries to change the subject by explaining his past deeds, but astrid wasn't having any of his excuses it all seemed pointless to her by then.

she stops him with a loud step on the stairs and says "save it" and just like that she calmly strides up the stairs and into her room not even bothering to glance at her father's reaction. She honestly just wanted to go to school at least there her schoolmates respected her, at least there she had control over everything she practically was an idol, a symbol of what it's like to be on the top, and there wasn't anyone to exploit her...

She takes a warm shower, after 15 min she walks out, towel curled carefully in her hair and at her body covering her chest down to her thighs, she quickly blow dries her hair and carefully applies her makeup, she has to look the part of the Astrid Hofferson and it helps cover up some parts of her face that was still slightly bruised from her father's previous "talks". After putting on the finishing touches she puts on her training outfit, mostly short shorts for mobility, training bra for support, a simple t-shirt and her jersey. She walks out the door inspecting her surroundings, although she already expected her father to be gone and she was right her father was nowhere to be seen, that's his lifestyle, he sleeps half of the day through and then spends the other half drinking, but not before taking the time to "talk" to her daughter about his problems about life and apparently about her.

She heads towards her car and drives off to school "berk high academy", after 45 min of driving she arrives at a giant billboard with a giant viking holding a number of different sports related items on it, it was the school's mascot and her usual parking space marker. She turns off the engine, exits her car and proceeds to the gymnasium to attend her practice match. it was supposed to be at 7:15 am, she got there 25 minutes earlier and as expected no one was there she was the first to arrive and she had no way of getting inside since the doors are locked and only her coach has the key. Coach Bernard Gunderson or "Gobber" for short, he was a former professional athlete, a viking in his youth as a matter of fact, but a car accident took his left hand and right foot, it permanently ended his professional career, i mean how can you play basketball with only a foot and an arm, although he did try but it ended badly, so he focused on the only thing he can do, pass down his athletic experiences and knowledge to the future of sports, the children of the world or so he says... But he's kind and he means well plus his workouts are actually helping young athlete's improve, one of them being Astrid

Since astrid was already in school she settles for jogging again to the only wide enough place that doesn't have a locked door, the soccer field, she takes off her jersey and puts on her blue hoodie with a viking logo on the front and starts running towards the soccer field, it wasn't that far away luckily it was just behind the gym. When she got there she was surprised to see someone other than herself this early in the morning but he or she was too far away for her to see his or hers face or what he or she was even doing so she disregards his or her presence and proceeds to her jogging exercise. After circling half of the field she was about to jog to a straight open space, so she decides to close her eyes it apparently helps relax the body and mind according to Gobber but just as she was getting psyched up for her match, her feet steps on something hard and circular causing her to be off balanced and fall flat on her but.

She quickly stood up and scanned the field in front of her, she lets out a sigh of relief as the man or woman was nowhere to be seen, it would be embarrassing if someone saw the "iron clad beauty Astrid Hofferson" fall flat on her ass like some dumb blonde girl, she pats her butt clean

"ow.. Great, no one saw m-" before she can finish her remark a voice from behind her takes her by surprise making her step back "hey" said the teenage boy, he was taller than astrid probably 5ft 8 since astrid was 5ft 6

"Woah.. are you ok?" Astrid's reaction shocked the teenage boy making him step back as well

"Huh? Why wouldn't i be ok?" She instantly snaps the question back at him in a irritated tone followed by furrowed eyebrows

"Well... You kinda hit the grass, pretty hard" he slowly states wondering if what he's saying is right and in any way won't offend her

"You saw that?" asking with a scowl and irritated tone

"Umm. N-nooo?, i don't know?" Confused on the situation, he has no idea what to say next and his stuttering isn't helping him at all

She takes her palm and places it firmly on her face followed by a sigh "great, just great..." She pauses and looks at the teenager from head to toe, he was wearing thick glasses and had green eyes, his hair was a mess and was a bit too long for her taste, he had bangs that comb to one side covering his eyebrows, he had several freckles on his cheeks and he wore a green long sleeved shirt with a brown vest and regular looking jeans, he was skinny but not in a malnourished way, well compared to scott everyone's skinny. The first thing that astrid thought to describe him was a complete and total nerd "well, at least it was just a nerd who saw me" she calmly says

"i can hear you, you know I'm right here" he frowns and looks at astrid slightly frustrated

"I know.. i just don't care" she exclaims with smug look on her face while observing the teenager again

"Geez.. I was gonna apologize" he says with an irritated tone

"Apologize? for what? Oh.. So this is your ball?" She slowly says mischievously while picking it up and looking at the boy

"Noo, it fell from the sky... Of course it's mine, what'd you think, it magically rolled to your feet on its o-" he adds insult to injury but before he can finish his sarcastic insult astrid kicks the ball as hard as she can making it fly into the woods just across the football field and past the school's fence, his jaw slacked in complete disbelief. The boy can only watch as his ball entered the forest until it was out of his sight, completely engulfed by the trees. The boy gives astrid his version of a death glare which in her opinion was pathetic and way to soft "what the hell was that for!?"

"Well, what do you know... it magically flies too" astrid replies evily while looking at where she supposedly kicked the ball and then returning her view to the nerd and coldly saying "fetch.. Your ball"

"Oh yeah.. real mature" he stated with an irritated tone, but what can he possibly do, what can he possibly say, nothing. He decides to ignore her and just take deep a breath and at least try and search for his ball he starts walking towards the direction of the forest ending their conversation, astrid walks to the opposite direction feeling satisfied, she got her revenge quite well, but not before giving the nerd some final advice

"hey, next time try not to get in my way" she says almost begging for a fight while keeping her deadly serious face on

"Next teme trey net te get in mey wey,... Jerk" the boy imitates her voice in a childish manner but unfortunately astrid wasn't far enough not to hear it although she was not close enough to completely hear the whole remark

"What, was that?" She turns her head angrily and looks at the nerd from behind

"What? i didnt hear anything" he quickly responds in an innocent tone while continuing his walk and increasing his pace, she might just run and attack him so he's trying to cover as much distance as he can

"Whatever, i don't have time for this" she turns her head back to her direction and looks at her watch, and was surprised to see that it was already 7:30 am, she wanted to chase the nerdy boy and punch his lights out, he ruined her warm-up exercise and made her late for her match but she disregards the idea, since she was already 15 min late she immediately dashes through the field and enters the gym, the match had already begun and her team was down by 6 points, gobber was sitting at the corner busy coaching the other girls mostly shouting more than coaching "get yer asses up" "ya call that a serve" it was his form of motivation. Astrid hurriedly walks up to the bench where her coach sits

"Where have ya been lass, -WHAT WAS THAT!? A spike?- " he shouts at the player who's spike was just blocked by the opponent

"Sorry coach, i got distracted on the way here" she says while taking her hoodie off and putting her jersey on

"What? Never mind that, just get in there, they're getting killed" pointing both hands, well a hand and a hook at least, furiously at the court. And just like that she rushes to the referee and asks for a substitution and a time out. She gathers the team into a circle and shows off her leadership skills, instructing everyone a specific job and then giving a considerably fair pep talk. Two and a half hours later the whistle blows and the berk Valkyrie's win with both sets 1rst 19-21 and 2nd10-21.

"Those Knights didn't know what hitem" said coach gobber, too happy at his star volleyball player, patting her back and laughing merrily

"It was a team effort, i didn't do it alone, you know, thank these guys too" she points to her team members and gobber was happy enough to oblige

"Cmon captain, we would've been crushed if you hadn't stepped in" a team member says "Yeah she's right, we owe this one to you"

"Thanks guys but seriously it's ok, and besides we should've destroyed them a lot sooner if i wasn't late in the first place" she jokingly says, at that moment her mind recalls the nerdy weak looking guy and quickly makes her visibly irritated, wanting more than ever to punch that guy in the face but she settles for squeezing the volleyball hard enough for her teammates to notice

"Woah astrid, didn't think you'd be that upset about being late" one of her teammates says "don't sweat it lass, it's normal, everyone comes late once in a while, even me" he jokingly says with a smile and a laugh

"More like everyday coach" one of her teamates says while laughing "having one leg can only take you so fast, so i guess your late is my early" he wittingly says but her teammate quickly apologizes for saying something in appropriate and in sensitive "um sorry coach i didn't mean anything by that.. I ju-" gobber cuts her off "i know you didnt lass, no harm done, i still have my one good arm and leg" then her other teammate stops the conversation before it can cause any further awkwardness

"anyway.. Coach is right dont sweat it too much what's important is that we crushed the knights" the team including coach gobber all gave a resounding nod and smiles of approval

"Yeah, Valkyrie's are the champs! We're going straight to the to-" but before she can finish her sentence a familiar face walks through the door "scott?" Says astrid all to surprised at the sight of her boyfriend although he looked like hell obviously he was still hungover. Astrid's teammate's on the other hand all gave a collective silent shriek "kyaa oh my god it's him it's scott"

"hey babe, how was the game?, obviously you won right?" Walking ever so slow and hungover towards astrid and her team members

"yeah, you just missed it" she says while still trying to figure out why scott was here when he should be in his bed sleeping like a rock, he never shows up for any of her games, well not since they started dating since then he only dropped by a few times maybe twice a month "i knew you would beat them, that's my girl" astrid winces at his words it somehow felt very wrong, it's supposed to be sweet but instead it made her stomach churn.

"Can you give us a moment?" Astrid asks her teammates with a polite smile

"Sure, We should give you two some privacy, let's go girls" one of her teammates responds and herds the rest of the group outside while gobber on the other hand doesn't quite get the message and just sits their at the side. "Ahem" astrid intentionally coughs and gobber just looks at her like a dog curious of its surroundings

"AHEM" she repeats but raises her voice even louder, gobber still only looks at her but this time he asks her a question "what lass? You sick or something?"

"not really, maybe i just need a little Privacy..." She says irritatedly and stresses the word privacy in her sentence, after one last repetition of the word privacy this time slower and clearer " y"

" y?... Oh, oooh you mean-" his eyes widen a big gray round and it seems like he was embarrassed for not getting it sooner

"yeah, not what you're thinking, but whatever.. so could you" astrid cuts him off from making any other unnecessary comments and just pointing him to the doors direction, gobber took her sign and was about leave but not before giving her star athlete a helpful advice "one last thing lass, don't forget to use protection"

"And Astrid, don't get pregn-" "Ook!, out, go.. just go" she pushes her coach to the direction of the door and stares at him until he was finally out of sight "im serious astrid" he warns her for the last time peeking from the gym's door, she coldly replies "and I'm seriously gonna hit you if you don't get out now" so finally gobber left and they had the gym to themselves. As soon as gobber left, scott grabs her by her waist and pulls her neck towards his face, he kisses her lips but astrid quickly pulls back "scott! Stop, can we not do this here?"

"What's wrong babe? You used to love it when i kissed you like that" he asks whilst attempting to kiss her again, astrid evades his lips and retaliates with a question

"Wait, why are you even here?" She asks with a confused look

"Why? I just wanted to see you babe" smiling ever so handsomely but through the years astrid has had hundreds of instances where he answers her questions with half-assed answers followed by his winning smile, astrid already got used to its effect and was now partially immune "plus you owe me last night, remember? You gave the go signal" He trails off and starts kissing her neck again

"i don't owe you anything scott, You were out cold last night, remember? I dragged your drunken butt all the way back to your house" She calmly explained while avoiding lip contact as much as possible. So that was his goal all along, it left her feeling somewhat disappointed, astrid had her hopes up that scott would somehow suddenly change into someone who legitimately acts sweet towards her and actually cares what's happening with her life so being with him won't be such a pain, but astrid knew better than to expect so much from him, after all he's still scott eventually everything he does just boils down to sex. Then again dating the quarterback has an upside to, like a status booster, envy of most girls and he wasn't all that bad if anything he was nice not in a gentlemanly way but these days no one's really a gentleman anymore he just wasn't sweet enough to make her emotionally attached and he was to wrapped up in his own world, but he has his moments, like when he's smiling and flexing his muscles, or when his mere presence would make the other girls swoon and blush, it made her feel powerful.

"That's just it babe, all i can remember was you last night" stopping for a second to utter the words and then continuing to kiss her "seriously babe, everything was a blur except for these" he looks down to inspect her chest and tries to feel one right now

"Scott i told you not here" she stops his hand and gives him a stern look, like when you're scolding your pet because he did something bad, scott looks at her with big puppy dog eyes mostly feeling disappointed and eager at the same time. Astrid lets out a big sigh, well at least he tried to be sweet in his own stupid way

"fine, but not now, ok maybe somewhere with a little more Privacy" she says while looking at the window that gobber apparently opened while standing outside the gym

"i knew you couldn't resist me, I'll pick you up after football practice" kissing her lips one last time before walking towards the exit door, but scott finally remembered why he went to see her in the first place "oh yeah, almost forgot babe... My mom wants you at dinner, to thank you or something?" He looks back from afar to see Astrid's response,

she gives him a thumbs up in the air "sure, I'll be there" and then he suddenly blurts it out "but we're still gonna do it right?" Good thing the gym was empty but she's pretty sure his voice echoed even outside, loud enough for her teammates and gobber to hear not that there is anything wrong with being heard she's not too shy of flaunting her "happy" relationship with scott to everyone since it's one of the reasons she's respected for, as "the quarterback's girl" what every guy in school wants and desired for, the girl they wished they dated, but she hated being "that girl" everyone only knows her because of scott, and because of her pretty face, not because of her brains or who she really was, but she can't just let go of scott, she just can't. She's convinced that breaking up with scott means giving up her perfect high school life, that if she lets go of scott then she's letting go of everything, everything she's worked hard for up until now, status, respect, control.

She presses her palm to her face but nods in his direction, scott giddily skips to the exit, surprisingly gobber didn't react to what he heard he should be all over her by now spouting contraceptive techniques and other inappropriate stuff. Curiosity gets the best of her, as she slowly walks towards the window and peaks through the open space. She scans the soccer field but sees no one but a small speck in the far away side of the field, she kinda makes out a face with a beard, a hook, and a peg, definitely coach gobber but there's another speck with him an even smaller one she can't seem to piece together the person's face so she decides to follow them outside but just before opening the door she's ambushed by her teammates gossiping and all girly and flirty about what they just heard "aaaastrid, what's he like" "hey, don't ask stupid questions... Ask the really good parts" "yeah the good "parts" how many times have you done it, was he good, what did it look like?" Astrid pulls back and laughs "woah, easy girls.." The team leans in eagerly waiting for her next words. Just before she can describe "everything" about scott, a tall blonde girl crashes inside, slamming the door behind her "where is she? Where's astrid!"

End of chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The scene resumes inside the gym of berk high academy where astrid is being interrogated by her teammates about her intimate relationship with scott jorgenson the quarterback but before she can speak up the door suddenly opens with loud thud and a tall blond girl walks in...

"Where is she, where's Astrid!" The girl frustratingly declares, she didn't shout but her voice was loud enough to echo through the nearly empty gym

"What now Ruff?... do you really have to do that?" She says while gesturing one hand towards the door

"Of course, it adds a dramatic effect, I got your attention right" smiling while walking towards astrid and her teammates. "Whatever..ruff" astrid plainly replies

"So.. You mind telling me why you're here, on a weekend" she says with one eye brow raised

"Same reason you're here, practice" while looking at her surroundings

"Practice? For what?" Shooting her a look

"Oh right, i haven't told you yet, i joined the soccer club" looking at the window trying to find something or someone

"Not this again.. just how many times are you gonna change clubs? You've joined AND quit 7 clubs already, can't you just pick one" astrid says with a tired expression

"You know exactly why I'm so picky, i haven't found the right guy yet, remember what i told you? clubs are one of the best places to meet new hotties" ruff answers with smug tone while still scanning the field through the window

"Meet new hotties? Aren't you supposed to be dating someone" astrid looks at ruff and pauses for a second "Don't tell me you broke up with.. What's his name? An ton? An dy? An?"

"Drew, his name was andrew... I think, whatever, he was boring, plus he liked the weirdest things, must be a weird fetish or something, like when he grabbed my-" ruff was about to imitate her ex's weird foreplay, but astrid had already heard enough and she didn't want nightmares to haunt her in her sleep. Astrid smacks her stomach "OK, too much info... i get it, do what you want, i won't stop you" she waves her hands signaling her sign of approval

After groaning in pain ruff answers "What're you talking about? I wasn't asking for your permission" then ruff gives her friend an evil smile and hits her chest as payback, astrid was surprised thus was not able to react in time Ruff's hand lands a direct hit to her right boob, hurting like hell "Ouch! Motherfu..." She winces in pain and looks at ruff with her infamous "I'll kill you" stare "so it's gonna be like that huh?" She lunges for ruff

"Bring it o-Oh crap..." Ruff evades astrids pounce, and escapes outside to the soccer field in hopes that somone in her new team would save her from the awesome wrath of astrid, meanwhile gobber is talking with none other than the skinny teenage boy that astrid bumped into...

"Augh.. Where is it? I saw it fly over here.. Or was it there? Augh! This is gonna take forever" he says while frantically searching for his soccer ball in the outermost part of the forest, while he was busy searching every bush gobber was busy eavesdropping on astrid and Scott's conversation when he just notices the rustling of leaves coming from the forest

"what are they talking about? I can't hear a thing, probably already going at i-.. What in the world was that? Must be another wild dog, on the loose... Huh guess i better go catch it, if any of my students get attacked on my watch, their parents will have my head" and so gobber briskly walks towards the part of the forest where he saw the dog.

wild dogs were always a problem in town especially when innocent citizens got hurt, most of the time they come out at night rummaging the trashcans, pooping on lawns, sometimes even hurting the people the police especially, but the biggest problem so far was the wild black wolf, the town was most famous for, the wolf even had its own name "nightfury", it was mostly the kids of the town that made it up but the adults thought it was a great fit so they stuck with it, the nightfury was almost never seen in daylight only flashes of its black fur and green eyes were spotted during the night, no one ever saw what the nightfury actually looked like so no one could give an accurate description, the only thing certain was that it was a wolf because it howled during full moons. The fact that it was a wild animal capable of killing a man, made the police decide to enforce a curfew, all civilians are not allowed to wander the streets past midnight and if ever bad luck hits you and you happen to come across the nightfury, then run and hope it doesn't find you or else.. Well you know what happens next.

"Ok.. Im sure it's-" he searches the big bush in front of him spreading its leaves appart "here.. Or not, huuh" he lets out a sigh as his efforts are put to waste but as soon as he turns around, he sees a large figure in front of him "Holy sh-!" He tries to step back but his feet got caught in one of the vines and ends up tripping, falling flat on his butt

"Hiccup? What in the world are you doing here?" He gives the boy a hook to hold on to and to regain his footing "I've been waiting for you all morning, boy.. and all this time you were here.. Collecting leaves? Hold on.. what ARE you doing?" He looks at hiccup with a puzzled expression trying to figure why he was in the forest in the first place, hiccup stands up and brushes his pants

"maybe a warning next time, gobber huh... I was looking for my ball, you know the one with black and red stripes" he then resumes scanning his surroundings "wait why are you here?" He didn't bother to look at his face and carries on with his search

"I thought i saw a dog so.. I went to go flush it out, but i found something a little less dangerous than what I had in mind" he looks at hiccup but hiccup doesn't look back

"And by something you mean me.. Well hate to break it to you but, disappointment is kinda my specialty, I've been disappointing people from the day i was born" he sarcastically says while still looking for any signs of his ball

"Don't take it personally lad, i just meant you weren't a dog, and i was really looking forward to trapping one" while shaking his equipment, he was like a viking complete with bite proof armor and trapping stuff, hiccup takes one look at Gobber's body and lets out a small laugh

"Yeah, I can see that, besides haven't you lost enough body parts already" he laughs while grinning and gesturing to gobbers hook and prosthetic leg

"Well someone's got to do it, and remember "this" can happen to you, that's life, so you should liv-" He raises his hook and starts to go on and on about life's importance and how we, as young adults should live them to the fullest and blah blah

"Oh crap, why did i even ask him?" He says to himself in a hushed voice "i got it ok, gobber, live life woohoo, I've heard that speech at least a 100 times now so hearing it for the 101th time won't make any difference, ..sigh.. so could you please just help me find my ball" he says with a whiney tone, he was so sick of Gobber's speech and what's worse gobber keeps repeating what he already said, he had a bad habit of repeating sentences when he's really into the topic, he doesn't even notice his annoying habit, he just keeps talking and talking

gobber is a close friend of hiccups dad so when he was still a kid gobber would often visit the house and obviously it's not the first time hiccup asked him why he was missing a few parts, of course back then gobber was making up stories left and right to make him look like a some sort of superhero or something, hiccup can remember gobber telling him that he lost his hand and foot while fighting a dragon, but hiccup wasn't much of a believer back then, even more so now and eventually gobber ends up telling hiccup the real reason and boy did hiccup regret ever asking the question to him, at first it was short simple but as he grew older the speeches grew longer with him.

"Fine, lad, where did you last see the damn thing?" He scratches his head and waits for Hiccup's response

"When did i last see it hmm.. That would be in the sky, flying towards here" he looks at gobber who gives him a skeptical look "what? You asked me a question, i answered it"

"let me get this straight, you're looking for something that landed here.. in the forest, without knowing exactly where HERE it is" he says while pointing to the forest around them, hiccup gives him a look but reluctantly nods "yeah.. That's basically it"

"Are you crazy hiccup? How in the hell are ya gonna find a tiny ball in this huge forest" gobber wasn't necessarily shouting but it was close, his voice was louder than usual, he stares at hiccup waiting for him to realize how completely idiotic this whole search is

"well what do you expect me to do, forget about it, j-just leave it here" he says angrily while stuttering at his last words, he turns his back against gobber and continues to search the bushes "gobber, listen.. i have to find that ball"

"Hiccup, can you stop this non-" but before he can finish his sentence hiccup looks at him with pleading eyes "please.. Gobber" gobber looks at hiccup and then averts his gaze, he lets out a big sigh

"Oi... You have until sunset, after that the gates will close, and you have no choice but to stop... Ok hiccup.. Why are ya so worked up over a ball, anyways? you can literally buy hundreds"

"It's not just a ball... It's priceless" hiccup calmly says "anyways thanks gobber.. I appreciate it" he smiles at gobber and shortly after, returns to his search

"Just don't forget, by sunset alright, i have to get back to the girls, you should to, the team needs a manager"

"Yeah.. bout that, guess i have to take a rain check on the manager thing" he scratches his neck

"First day on the job and already quitting? Hiccup, I know you're busy with your ball hunt but that's not a good enough excuse to skip your duties, tomorrow you're attending practice"

"I know bu-" hiccup tries to reason but gobber shoots him a serious look "no buts, no excuses, I've already given you enough chances, I'll be at practice tomorrow and i expect you to be there" he finishes the conversation and walks back to the direction of the soccer field.

as soon as he enters the field, two blonde girls running around chasing each other quickly catches his eyes, he recognizes astrid among the two. Gobber was confused but he pitied the girl astrid was chasing since he was all too familiar with Astrid's violent streak, luckily the two were headed his way, so he didn't have to give chase. Ruff spots gobber and was smart enough to hide behind him

"Woah!.. What's going on here, astrid calm down" he blocks Astrid's path and holds her shoulder grasping tightly, cause if he didn't she would've gotten past him in a second and reached her target

"Yeah, astrid lighten up a little" ruff grins and starts to feel safe especially since there was a teacher in front of her, but staying a fair amount of distance, just out of Astrid's range

"What're you talking about coach, I'm perfectly calm, i just wanna calmly talk to my friend over there" astrid points to ruff while forcing a smile "Calm my ass" ruff immediately replies

"Alright, stop this, let's all just relax.. astrid, we both know that's not what you're thinking, cmon can't you settle this like normal well-mannered ladies?"

"Yeah, lets settle this peacefully, no one has to get hurt, riight astrid?"

"There you go, cmon Astrid, be the mature one" gobber lets her go and coax her into making up with ruff astrid slowly walks towards ruff

"I am, see?" She smiles and hugs ruff, ruff flinches, she thought for sure astrid was going to hit her, she lets out a sigh of relief, and gobber just smiled as he thought he just solved a teen crisis

"Now was that so hard?, now let's get back to the gym the team's probably worried sick about me" gobber gestures for the two to proceed and he'll follow, he continues walking through the field watching the two girls talking and laughing in front of him and he was so proud of himself for resolving a teen conflict, he was such a good advice giver but beneath the laughter astrid was whispering to ruff

"Haha, you know I'm still gonna hit you right haha" smiling while taking short glimpses at gobber, she smiles at him then, goes back to laughing with ruff

"Haha Yeah, i figured as much, well then.. What are you waiting for don't hold back haha" she laughs all too loud gobber was too pleased with himself to notice that their laughing was way to forced and not at all natural, ruff braces herself waiting for Astrid's fist to make contact with her chest

"Relax, not right now, gobber ruined the moment, besides.. i want it to be surprise" she laughs genuinely and stares at her evilly

"You're some kind of a sadist, you know that?" Laughing while finally resting her arm on Astrid's shoulders pulling her neck along with her whole body closer, well looks like gobber really did solve their problem for now at least.

They all entered the gym, and after a an hour Ruff's coach finally arrives along with most of the football club, it turns out she was an hour early, she says farewell to astrid and her teammates and joins the soccer club practice in the field. After that the day went on pretty smoothly for astrid, practice was the same as usual, it was kind of boring but she remembered what scott said, his parents invited her for dinner she was initially happy since his parents were much more interesting than scott himself, but more importantly she now has a valid reason not go home. She then remembers another thing scott said, it's clear to her that they are dating and doing stuff like that are a given but the whole act was pointless to her sure sometimes it would feel good, not great just good, and that hardly ever happens. usually it feels weird, sweat everywhere, then a feeling of violation with a hint of disappointment and guilt then he climaxes and everything turns to just disappointment, but she'd still do it in spite of the way she felt. Astrid already knew what she felt for scott and it's not love, at least not anymore but what can she do? Scott was the only person left that cared for her even if it was mostly for sex he would still treat her nicely, in Scott's defense he's completely clueless, as far as he knows their relationship is as solid as a rock, little did he know the Rock's hard exterior was only a shield to cover up the truth, what lies beneath the covers are cracks ready to crumble at the slightest touch. Astrid erases the thought as she heads toward the showers and finally easing up and relaxing while cleaning her body after sweating like crazy, meanwhile in the forest...

Hiccup finds himself in the middle of the forest, still no sign of his ball anywhere, he's sweating heavily, beads of sweat roll down from his forehead to the ground, he's getting worried it was already 3:43 pm only 2 hours and a half left until the sun sets and still no progress, but one thing was clear to him, even if he ends up empty handed today he'll never stop trying he'll come back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that and keep searching. He stops for a quick breather and sits on a stump, he looks up at the sky and starts a conversation with it

"...sigh... Hey, um.. Hi, mom it's henry.. Listen, i have bad news, remember the ball you gave me i kinda sorta lost it.. Can you help me out maybe make a trail of leaves or something.." He laughs at how crazy he must look right now talking to the sky and asking for a trail of magical leaves but he slowly stops and looks down to where his feet were

"hey, mom.. We really miss you, dad and I.. Were ok.. it's been 7 years since.. Since you left.. It hasn't been the same without you.." A tear escapes his eyes but he quickly wipes it away and stands up, "anyway...so, no trail of magical leaves then? Ok, don't worry mom I'll keep looking, I'll ALWAYS keep looking" he smiles and continues his search with a renewed drive, walking deeper and deeper into the forest...

End of chapter Three


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hiccup is currently at the berk high black forest, searching for his ball which was a gift from his beloved mother, it was already 3:45 pm and so far he hasn't made any progress with the balls whereabouts

2 hours later still nothing and what's even worse he was now completely lost, he forgot the way back, the sky was already orange red, a sign that darkness was near, he tries to piece together all the things he saw while walking but everything looks exactly the same, just leaves and trees. his head hurts as he puts all his thinking capabilities to use, it seemed like he was running around in circles and every corner was either a dead end or another road to nowhere. He tried to be cool and just walk like nothing's happening, like there's no risk of being locked inside the school, and no danger of being attacked by some wild dog. Seconds later after thinking of all the impossibly horrible things that can happen to him during the night, he hears a growl escape from his far right, his fears have now just came true he was most likely with a wild dog ready to pounce, his heart beats faster and faster as the sound of rustling of leaves gets louder and ever so close, it took him a few seconds to snap out of his terrified and dazed state, he knew he couldn't outrun a dog and trying to fend it off with basically nothing but a stick is a sure ticket to the hospital that is if someone even discovers his body after being attacked. But he abandons all of his senses and runs as fast as his legs can take him, but the noise hasn't stopped it must be chasing after him and what's even worse the stomping noise of its paws were louder meaning it was not a normal sized dog must be one of those big pitbulls trained for the pits, he did not dare to look back, and instead closes his eyes, but after what seemed like the longest 10 min of his life he falls into a wet surface, causing a huge splash. He stands up and walks to the shore of the huge body of water, must be a lake, he inspects the surroundings looking at the beautiful lake in front of him and squeezes his shirt and empties his shoes, it almost makes him forget that he was being chased, almost.. He turns around and something big hits him causing him to once again fall ass first on the ground, he closes his eyes, body still shaken, as he thinks of gobber, maybe it's gobber, maybe gobber just followed him to check how he was doing but before he can catch his breath, he feels a warm mist swoop into his face followed by heavy breathing noises. It took all of his courage just to open his eyes and face the beast in front of him, but the situation prooved to be even worse, as he opened his eyes, darkness had already set in, they just so happen to be in the part of the shore that was covered by a huge willow tree, but what he saw wasn't obstructed by the dimness of the light, the beast had big green eyes and was glaring directly at him, its nose and mouth were long and sleek, and it's body was a blur but the creatures face was clear jet black fur, he falls completely silent in fear and shock but as soon as the dog growls hiccup takes it as a sign for him to make a run for it, using all the energy he has left, he runs as fast as he can, he didnt care where he was going or if the dog followed him, only one thought was in his head, survival if he wanted to live then he has to get as far away as he can from that monster of a dog. He kept on running, jumping at every large root that came his way, until he couldn't anymore, he trips on one of the roots and stumbles until his back hits another hard surface, he takes what he presumed as his last breath and swallowed all his fears, he closes his eyes and just stayed still waiting for the dogs sharp claws to rip his neck, but everything flipped upside down as he hears the dog say...

"There ya are! I've been lookin all over for ya hiccup" hiccup opens his eyes and sees the bearded, one legged man, bearing down on him. He immediately stands up and hugs him so tight that he was already above ground clasping his legs onto gobbers

"G-gobber! Thank God, it's you! Gobber take out your tazer" while still hugging his legs

"Alright, alright, calm down and hiccup.. could you get off me?" He stares down at hiccup and gives him an irritated look

"My bad" he sheepishly says while slowly unclasping his legs and planting then on the ground

"So why exactly do i need to take out my tazer?" He looks around, and finds nothing but leaves and trees, and then he looks back at hiccup visibly confused at his request

"Huh, it's gone b-but, i swear it was jus-" he scans his surroundings, it was in fact empty besides the two of them of course

"What are ya yapping about now? Lad, what's gone?" He scratches his neck and checks his surroundings again but there was still nothing to be found

"The dog... you were right, gobber, there was a dog here all along, and it was huge"  
He tells gobber

"What!? Really? What did it look like? was it Rottweiler, or a pitbull c'mon tell me boy" he exclaims rather loudly obviously excited to hear that he was finally going to use his new equipment

"I don't know, i just saw its head" he tells gobber with furrowed eyebrows

"Well, what did it's head look like?" He walks closer to hiccup, eagerly waiting what he'll say next

"It had green eyes and its mouth was kinda long, longer than a normal dog i guess" he looks at gobber closely watching his facial expression if it would change, meaning he knows the dog but his expression just sunk into a disappointed look

"That's it? That's all ya got?" He says at hiccup rather accusingly with an irritated expression

"Well Excuse me, for not drawing a picture, gee maybe i should've took a selfie with it" he sarcastically says while moving his hands into gestures

"Sel-what? Honestly you kids and the words you make up, i don't understand any of it..." He lets out a sigh in exasperation

"That's not the point, gobber, there's a wild dog out there that almost ripped my face in half, I could care less about selfies" he looks at gobber rather flustered

"But you're the one who brought up that stupid selpy or selfy nonsense in the first place" he responded with a stern voice, hiccup just shouts in complete exasperation

"Augh!... Ok, let's try this again" he gives himself a face palm and sighs "gobber, there is a dog in the forest, it had black fur, green eyes and hug-" gobber cuts him off before he could finish the description

"What did you say?, black fur?" He looked at hiccup with a rather worrisome expression, hiccup stares at gobbers face farely curious to why he reacted that way, with the mention of that one detail

"Uh yeah... jet black" gobber immediately scans his surroundings narrowing his eyes and carefuly focusing on the forest surrounding them hiccup takes a step back and quietly tells gobber "gobber is everything ok?"

"No, Hiccup it's not ok, it's got black fur" he exclaims still searching for whatever is out there in the forest

"So? What's the big deal if it has black fur? It's a dog, that's normal right" he says with a confused look

"You dont understand hiccup, there are NO black dogs in berk, only..." He pauses for a second and once again scans his surroundings "black wolves.." Hiccup takes a second to fully understand what gobber said "black wolves? Seriously gobber wolves... in berk?" He scoffs at the idea and gives gobber an accusing look

"Don't mock it lad, you might just end up as it's dinner" he looks at hiccup, and stares at him seriously which makes hiccup flinch and swallow, but was it really a wolf, he saw it with his own eyes it was big, unusually big for a dog, maybe it was a wolf, chills run down hiccups spine at the thought of the beasts image, gobber notices the boy's silence and decides to reassure him, i mean regular hiccup was a klutz, imagine what a nervous wreck hiccup would be like, he would probably get them both killed "don't worry lad, I'm still here, ok, you're looking at Gobber the dog hunter" he pats hiccups back followed by a chuckle

"Yeah, somehow that worries me even more" he says quietly.

"Strange though.. That wolf hasn't shown its face since last year, why would it suddenly come back now? Are ya sure it was a wolf hiccup?" He says staring at hiccup while placing a hand and a hook on his waist

"I never said it was a wolf, you're the one who went crazy for the whole wolf thing just cause it's black" he says with a slightly irritated tone

"Oh right, i did, didn't i? Well, whatever IT is, it's gone.. And we'd be wise not to stay here and find out... Cmon lad lets go" he takes one last look in to the distance of the forest still seeing no traces or movement within them, he walks back to the direction of the soccerfield but stops to make sure hiccup was following him from behind

"Hold on gobber, just give me a minute, im sure it's out there somewhere, I'm getting close i can feel it" he walks to the opposite direction, gobber was heading and doesn't look back he finds himself pulled back by a hook firmly hooked to his neckline

"are you deaf lad, i just said there was wolf out there, a wolf hiccup" he firmly hooks hiccups shirt and begins to drag him by force, hiccup tries to pull back but alas the strength of an adult, not to mention his weight was too great for hiccup to even move back an inch

"Yeah a wolf gobber, i heard you, now let go of me!" He tries to pry the hook of his neckline but fails, gobber ignores hiccups words and efforts, as he keeps walking

"You heard me, but i don't think you understood, it's too dangerous to stay here anymore, we have to go, and that's final" he doesn't look back and keeps dragging hiccup

"Cmon, what happened to Gobber the great dog hunter, i thought you live for this kind of stuff" he gives up on prying on the hook but keeps on struggling

"Dog hiccup, dog hunter not wolf, and i may live for this but you don't, your dad will kill me if you don't come back home in one piece" he scoffs at hiccup

"Like he'll care what happens to me" he scoffs back "he's probably too busy to even notice I'm gone" he says with a smug tone, gobber stops moving and releases hiccup from his hook and turns to face hiccup, who's sitting down on the ground

"Hiccup.. You know that's not true, he's just.. Being governor takes a whole lot of his time, even I hiccup, i rarely get to drink with him anymore" He says while grasping Hiccup's shoulder to comfort him but hiccup stands up

"Don't worry, I'm used to it, ..sigh.. right now i just wanna find my ball" he pats his butt trying to wipe the dirt from being dragged earlier, gobber exhales a big breath and stops hiccup

"Hiccup.. Let's go, stop this already, it's just a ball" he says with an accusing and tired tone, hiccup ignores his request and keeps searching

"I already told you, it's not just a ball" he says calmly while still searching the bushes up ahead

"And I already told you, you have until the sun sets.. hiccup! I've given you the whole afternoon to look for that damn thing" he raises his voice to stress his frustration at the stubborn boy. Hiccup stops his search for only a moment

"Gobber just ..sigh.. You dont understand" he says quietly while turning to face gobber

"Then tell me! Tell me what it is i don't understand?" He raises his voice again clearly getting even more frustrated with the boy, hiccup averts gobbers gaze and stares at his left side

"The ball it's ..sigh.. Mom gave it me.. It's the last thing she gave me, before.." After his confession, the air went heavy and gobbers anger just faded away, quickly replaced by pity and remorse. gobber was a family friend so he knew about hiccups situation with his mother.

Veronica Haddock, she was as beautiful as she was kind-hearted, Gerard said that hiccup resembled veronica in many ways despite having his hair and eye color, his actions and personality was that of his mother, the way he walked, talked, even the way he ate was similar to her, but the greatest trait that hiccup could ever gain from his mother was her heart, the heart that always forgives, the heart that always sees the good in everyone, and the heart that can change a power hungry man whose only desire was fame and fortune into a loving husband and father. Gobber rarely saw hiccup and his mother appart, they were always in each other's arms, they were completely inseparable, they would always play pranks on Gerard that made everyone including gerard himself laugh, the haddock's were no doubt a happy family, a complete family. That was until that faithful day, when Veronica suddenly went missing, gerard poured all his blood, sweat, and tears into the search mission or possibly even rescue mission in case she needed help wherever she was, hiring hundreds of policemen to search not just berk but the whole other towns near them, trying to find any traces whatsoever of Veronica in each place but all of them ended up empty handed. After a whole year of nothing but search parties and stake outs, the police declared her, either missing or dead. Hiccup always believed she was just missing, he never once dared to admit the latter, and so he always has and always have been searching for her ever since she left them. The most depressing part is, she left without saying anything, nothing, not even a simple farewell to her husband and to the son she's left motherless.

Gobber's face just sinks and once again he lets out a big sigh, trying to understand him and maybe feel what he might be feeling "hiccup.. I'm sorry, i understand, really i do.. but.. it's getting way to dangerous out here, we have to get outta here before the gates close or we'll-" hiccup cuts him off

"You don't understand, anything at all!.. I will NEVER stop looking! Ok, cause it's still out there, i know it is.. And I don't care if you or anyone else says it's gone.. she's still out there.. Waiting for me to find her, i know she is.." And at that moment hiccup let's out all the tears he tried to push back, he didn't realize that there were already dropping from his eyes, he was too caught up in the moment to even hide them from gobber

"Listen, I believe you hiccup, I have faith you'll find her, it's.. not just today" he holds both of Hiccup's shoulder trying not to hurt him with his hook and kneels down in front of him staring directly into his eyes, which were watery from crying "stopping now doesn't mean you're giving up, it just means you're getting ready to start again tomorrow.. I get it now, i won't stop you anymore, just promise me, that you'll know when it's time to get back, alright hiccup"

Hiccup wipes off the remaining tears and covers his eyes while nodding his head  
Gobber pats him on the back, "there ya go, now let's go home, and wipe off the damn tears lad you're a viking for Pete's sake"

"Yeah, gotta admit that was pretty lame" hiccup laughs while trying to dry off his eyes "I was planning to act all cool, i guess that turned out great" he laughs again while finally heading back towards the soccer field, it was already 5:37 nearly 30 min left before the gates fully closed, hopefully they were able to make it

"So.. Does this mean I'm not manager anymore" he awkwardly says while expectantly looking at gobber.

"Don't push your luck lad, you're still gonna be manager, crying can only get you so far" while shooting hiccup a stern look

"Yeah, figured that one out when i was a 9 yrs. old" and so they each gave their goodbye's and went their separate ways, of course because they lived in separate houses, meanwhile at Scott's house...

"Oh astrid, glad you could join us, come in, come in" Scott's mother says while cheerfully smiling

End of chapter Four


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The night was young; astrid had just arrived in the Jorgenson residence. Scott's parents invited her for dinner as a token of gratitude for getting their son safely back home time and time again, astrid was happy to accept the offer, she'd jump at a chance not to go home and honestly she misses having real parents, and the whole dinner event somehow made her feel like she had a family again. She rings the doorbell, the dinner was nothing fancy so a dress code wasn't really necessary, and astrid was dressed accordingly with nothing but tight jeans and a t-shirt that hugged her body, scott on the other hand was dressed in casual home clothes shorts and a jersey, who could blame him it was his house why would anybody dress up to go to their house. Scott's mother opened the door and welcomed her with open arms, a cheerful greeting followed by a peck on both cheeks. The night was evidently fruitful, everyone except for scott joined the conversation, because they were mostly talking about the future, their plans for college and scott had no knowledge on the subject matter whatsoever, mostly cause his parents handled everything, from enrollment to the interviews and more importantly the scholarships, astrid was too interested on the topic at hand, so she asked both Scott's parents for advice and tips on how to make the major universities take notice or even just glance at her. Scott's parents reassured her that with her current athletic status, being captain, and her overall grade point average, she'd surely get scouted, that made astrid genuinely happy, the dinner ended when scott falls asleep on the table, making his parents groan at their child's rudeness, but scott cleaned the table and washed the dishes when he was told to do so, it was funny seeing scott like that, the school quarterback was just any other son at home, following his parents orders running their errands and helping out around the house, he wasn't a bad guy he was just extremely tactless and self-absorbed. After cleaning the table twice, scott yawns and looks at astrid, obviously signaling her to stay the night. Astrid just groans but accepts none the less, she asked his parents if she could stay the night and they happily agreed, it was clearly written on Scott's face what they were about to do, his parents quickly read the situation and their son's intention, so they asked astrid to sleep anywhere else but Scott's room, which surprises him and makes him sulk and pout at his mother. Astrid just laughed and declined their offer, she respectfully tells his parents she's ok with sleeping in Scott's room, clearly sex wasn't a big deal for her, to her is what just a means to an end, the end being a happy relationship. His mother just sighs and tells her to keep the fun to a minimum and his father just went upstairs probably tired from work. Scott's giddily says goodnight to his mom and dad and held Astrid's hand, grasping it tightly and tugging her to the basement where his room was, it was a complete mess but she was used to it, it was a typical boys room, bed untidy, bed sheets nearly on the floor, underwear lying on the ground and tissue, lots of tissue in the trashcan. Scott kisses astrid as soon as he locks the door but astrid avoids his lips and just asks him to take off his clothes, and so the night went on and they slept together, there was nothing special about it, it should be, but it doesn't really feel special at all, it was just normal to her by now, after scott finishes early which he always does astrid just lies on scott, as much as she hated being smothered by his muscles, it makes her feel small, she admits to feeling a little bit of comfort when she lies on them, she falls asleep soon after...

Astrid woke up to the sound of her alarm, it was already Sunday morning, she forcibly raises Scott's big arms off her stomach, and stood up, Scott wakes up noticing Astrid's movement

"..Yawn.. Mornin bab-" he is stopped by a pillow to his face thrown by astrid

"I told you, when were alone it's Astrid" she calmly says, scott removes the pillow and stretches his arms, flexing them by habit

"Why? Are you embarrassed or somethin?" He trails off while still firmly lying on his bed, astrid on the other hand is getting ready to take a shower but finishes the conversation before leaving

"Like hell i-i mean.. save it for the others, ok scott? Say it when there's more people around" she says calmly while putting on her shirt and jeans, scott laughs

"Oh i get it, cause you want everyone to hear me say it, not just you right, got it bab-... Astrid" he winks and flashes a smile in her direction

"Riiight, you got it.. now go back to sleep you'll break your brain if you use it to much" she sarcastically says while giving him a fake smile, a really fake smile only an idiot would believe in its authenticity, luckily scott was a genuine idiot

"knew it, K, see you on monday" he says smugly, as soon as astrid shuts the door he's back to his pillow fast asleep. Astrid walks along the corridor and quietly enters the bathroom, fortunately there was a towel already hanged behind the door, she didn't even consider the thought of using Scott's towel, it already smelled like sweat and a whole lot of other things. After taking a warm shower she dresses up for practice, only astrid would still practice on a sunday that was how dedicated she was to her athletic career, a short shorts, a sports bra, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, when she got out of the shower she notices Scott's mom cooking breakfast

"Oh morning, dear" she cheerfully says while frying eggs

"Mornin Mr's J" she replies

"Going already? why not stay for breakfast?" She says, while turning to face astrid, she just smile and politely refuses her offer

"No thanks, have to go to school, i still have practice this morning" she replies

"Practice, on a sunday morning? I don't think that's hardly fair, you need to rest to dear" she says turning her back against astrid to flip the omelettes

"It's fine, really, it's what i want" she laughs slightly, while giving her an honest smile

"Well if you say so.. Here, take a couple of sandwiches for the road" she hands astrid a plastic zip lock with a pair of sandwiches inside

"Thanks Mrs J, I'll be going now, dinner was delicious" she says while walking out through the front door

"Come back soon ok, don't be a stranger" she cheerfully says while waving at her from the front door, astrid waves back and begins to jog to school.

Scott's house was fairly close to berk high, you'll arrive there after about 45 minutes of brisk walking, when she arrived at berk high she heads straight to the gym where she usually meets up with gobber for their one-on-one training session, but that's weird he wasn't there, i mean he's usually late but this is a new record, astrid was getting impatient and very irritated, meanwhile gobber was actually looking for hiccup in the forest, he thought hiccup would've already started looking the moment the gates reopened in the morning, so he decided to come to school early and get a head start on the search or maybe just stop hiccup from getting himself killed by a wild beast but little did he know hiccup was at home drooling over his pillow. It isn't until he falls out of bed that he fully awakes, and realizes he's already an hour late, he woke up at 10 am, astrid was already there walking and pacing in circles cursing at the wind since 8:43 am, and gobber started looking for hiccup around 8:22 am, none of them were making progress, none of them were getting things done, this would have never happened if gobber just bought himself a cellphone already, he always says it's not necessary and only teenagers required such gadgets, imagine how easily things would've been resolved if gobber just called hiccup or astrid and cleared things up, but there they were as scattered as ants after you break their line formation, one pacing in circles, another racing towards the colony, and the last searching for the line... Gobber was persistent and kept on searching, given that the forest was huge and hiccup could be anywhere, it never slipped his mind that hiccup might be at the gym waiting for him since he did tell him last time to be there. Anyways hiccup was exceptionally quick, not wasting any of his movements one arm was combing his hair and the other brushing his teeth, after getting ready in record time he opens the garage door and hurriedly sits on his car, an old hand me down car from his father, a gift for his 17th birthday, too him at least. He drives onto the highway and races through traffic, after 30 minutes of driving he parks near another car and runs towards the gym, he opens the two large doors and hurriedly makes his way inside, but he was confused gobber wasn't there. Gobber was replaced with a familiar blonde girl walking in circles, hiccup recognizes the girl and quietly tip toes back towards the door, but before he reached the exit the girl calls out to him..

"Hold it! Where do you think you're going!" She shouts with an irritated tone, she clearly heard the doors open and she automatically identifies him as gobber without even trying to look, i mean who else would go to the gym on a sunday. Astrid couldn't quite see his face clearly the shade was blocking her view so she just stands, arms crossed under her chest standing menacingly, hiccup flinches and tries to respond as best that he could

"Um.. N-nowhere" he says quietly, luckily the gym was empty so his voice echoed through to astrid, astrid was surprised hearing a voice she didn't recognize, it certainly wasn't Gobber's it sounded small and faltering, but its kinda familiar

"Wait, you're not gobber, Who the hell are you?" She demands to know

"I'm.. I'm not really sure i want to tell you" he says while trying to quietly escape the gym but astrid quickly stops him

"What? Hey! Stop moving, I'm still talking to you" she irritatedly commands, it seems waiting for almost an hour has put astrid in a foul mood, actually who wouldn't be upset after waiting for so long and then realizing the person you waited for still hasn't arrived yet

" ..sigh.. I'm Henry, now can i go" he says with a whiny tone

"henry? Wait.. Henry Haddock? The famous hiccup" she laughs rather loudly, she recognizes the name since it was a well-used school trend that's been going on since her first year in berk, whenever someone messes up they'd say "what a hiccup" or "look it's hiccup". She's heard dozens of stories about him mostly about all the times he'd fall flat on his face or ass and screws things up, but despite being a hiccup he was rather smart being top of his class almost every year, which simply meant he was a nerd too. Secretly astrid loathe hiccup even though she hasn't actually met him in person, since Hiccup's always number one in academics, she'd always end up taking second place, no one likes second place, especially astrid. Every year she tries to pick up her grades and get ahead of him but every year he ends up beating her again, now finally she meets her longtime rival and with the foul mood she's in, it's about time she pays him back. Astrid was about to release 3 years' worth of pent up frustration, well the plan was mostly bully him until he graduates but we'll see..

"Yeah, ..famous.. So, you happy now? Can I leave?" He asks slightly irritated at her response

"No, would you just stay put, it's not like you have somewhere else to be" she clearly replies

"And how would you know? Who knows, maybe I'm late to a party right now" he ask in an accusing tone but still tries to cover his face with the shade of the room, he tries to seem cool and nonchalant but astrid easily saw through his lies

"Yeah, maybe a kids party, besides why would anyone invite you, your hiccup" she smugly says clearly pointing out everyone's loatheness for his presence, she tries to catch a glimpse of his face but alas the shade was still blocking her point of view. Hiccup chuckles, three years of bullying kinda makes you immune to this sort of stuff.

"You got me, I forgot no one wants hiccup at their party" he laughs and gives himself a face palm "but believe it or not I've been to lots of parties" he smugly says almost begging astrid to ask

"Let me guess, was it by accident, maybe they invited everyone but forgot, Everyone included you" she replies "good guess, but it's not an accident if I've been invited 17 times" he answers back and astrid is visibly baffled trying to think of any reason why anyone would invite the least popular guy in school and do it 17 times it's like you don't want anyone to come to your party, or more like committing social suicide

"Give up?" Hiccup smugly says, and astrid sighs feeling somewhat defeated "fine, who is it? who's the loser who invites even bigger losers to their party?" She irritably asks

"No one" he says quite pleased with himself, "What? What was that?" She asks rather frustrated at his stupid answer

"N-no one" he repeats but with a smaller voice, stuttering at first, maybe second guessing himself

"No one!? Is that a joke? Are you an idiot? That doesn't even make sense" she shouts, scoffing at him from a distance, she was appalled at the thought of losing to this guy every year, only to find out that he's just an idiot in person, this? this is the guy that keeps on beating her?

"M-maybe you just don't get it" he answers back, again slightly stuttering at first but manages to pull through the whole sentence. hiccup already regretted opening his mouth in the first place, astrid snaps back and replies too quickly

"What did you just say? Are you calling me stupid!?" She angrily exclaims, voice echoing through the gym like a cavern

"N-no of course not, N-no one called you s-stupid, ok, s-so just calm down, and let me explain" he raises his hand and waves them, desperately signaling astrid that she misunderstood his intentions

"Please.. by all means, I'm all ears" she sarcastically says, still visibly irritated

"Ok.. When I said no one, I kinda.. really meant no one.." He says while gesturing random hand movements

"I KNOW.. and it's still the dumbest answer I've ever heard" she clearly points out arms still firmly crossed

"Would you just listen first" he exclaims, maybe a little bit louder than he would've liked

"What!?" Astrid snaps back and hiccup sheepishly replies

"P-please, listen first?" Astrid dials down the anger and signals hiccup to continue

"I said no one.. cause no one invites themselves to their own party, Get it?" He says trying to anticipate Astrid's response, she was initially surprised and confused but then ponders on the thought for a few seconds and then finally answers

"Ohh.. I see, then you must be 17 yrs old?" She laughs, maybe a bit pleased that she finally got it but a bit frustrated for not getting it sooner, she sighs in her head, relieved that he wasn't a complete idiot. Hiccup notices her chuckle and points it out "someone's surprisingly happy?"

"Happy? Please.. I'm just relieved, that, that.. made sense, guess you're not a total moron after all" she says still trying to make out his face in the darkness

"Thanks, I guess?.. Uh hey, as much as I enjoy not being a total moron, I'm gonna have to get going, i really need to find someo-" he turns his back and already he's grasping the door handle

"Hold it, You're not going anywhere.. Not until you show me your face first" she wanted to verify whether her mental images of him matches or if they were even worse than what she'd imagined. She always thought of hiccup as a complete and hopeless looking nerd, she pictured him as a small maybe just as tall as her 5,6, she wasn't small for a girl but 5,6 for a guy it's still quite lacking, then he'd have big thick glasses, acne filled face, hair messy as a dog and somehow dressed in the lamest outfit she can think of but so far his clothes was normal jeans and a shirt with a picture of blimp on the front, yup pretty normal but she reassures herself that his face would make up for the lack of nerdiness in his clothes

"Huh? What does my face have to do with anything?" He asks rather confused

"shut up, and stop hiding in the dark like a wuss" she demanded pointing her finger in his direction

"You do realize i could just walk away right? the doors literally just behind me" he says pointing to the door behind him

"then, go.. im sure you wanna know what happened to the last person who pissed me off" she asks while putting on a smile, hiccup flinches at the thought, it runs shivers down his back, it takes him a few seconds to answer back

"fine, I give" he replies depressingly while raising both of his arms at astrid "..sigh.. But I'm tellin you, you're not gonna be too thrilled to see my face" he slowly walks out of the dark and into the center part where light shown down his face, astrid quietly waited, probably getting ready for the big reveal, she was finally going to see his face, she was little bit excited, by the way he talked about his face it seemed as though it was really unpleasant and that's exactly what astrid had hoped for... hiccups face slowly became visible in the light, astrid upon seeing the all too familiar face shouts in disbelief "You!" her eyes shoot open and arms on her side

"yeah.. me.. hi, h-hows your butt?" he quietly says with an awkward expression while waving his hands to say hello

"my butts fi- wait shut up! you, youre hiccup?" she asks surprise written all over her face, hiccup just stands still, he didnt have a clue how to react to her question

"uh yeah.." he looks at himself and then looks to astrid awkwardly "Last time i checked, i was hiccup so.." he just stares at astrid confused, not really knowing what to do or say to her, astrid on the other hand slowly came to turns with the sudden discovery she composes herself and stares at hiccup again, still nerdy looking but not as nerdy looking as she would've hoped for. but then she realizes this is kinda great they're the same person, this just means she could hit two nerdy birds with one stone, she could make fun of the nerd who made her trip and at the same time bully the same nerd that keeps beating her. she lets out a smug laugh

"this is great, YOURE hiccup" she gestures to him and then laughs again, hiccup still quite confused on what exactly he should do, so he decides to laugh along with astrid, but after joining her for about two seconds astrid stops laughing and irritably asks him

"What's so funny?" Hiccup sees the dismay in Astrid's face and slowly stops laughing, he awkwardly laughs in the end "I-i really d-don't know" he Stutter's obviously confused on how to handle the situation he was in

"Did i say anything funny? Huh?" She irritably asks, hiccup shrugs and sheepishly replies "N-no?" Still doubting his responses

"Then, why the hell were you laughing?" She loudly exclaims, hiccup flinches a little bit, then scratches the back of his neck and thinks

"Y-you were-" he sheepishly tries to answer stuttering at the words probably still second guessing himself but astrid couldn't make out what he was saying so she cuts him off and demands for him to raise his voice

"what!? Speak-UP" she angrily demands, hiccups voice was actually quite audible, the gym was empty enough to make the faintest sound of pen falling noticeable. Astrid just wanted to make up of for lost time and, well she's astrid, she relished the sight of hiccup the guy who constantly beats her squirm in her fingertips. Hiccup flinches at the sound of her voice and hurriedly obliged her demands

"Y-you Were L-laughing So.. I T-thought I should Laugh t-to.. You K-know Laugh w-with you?" He says while looking to astrid, checking if what he said made sense "Or maybe not?" He adds after seeing astrids face already slightly frowning, she scoffs and confidently replies

"Laugh with you?" She repeats his words against him and chuckles a little bit "let me make this clear, for you, Hiccup" she stresses on his nickname, obviously insinuating it's value

"I'm not laughing WITH you, I'm laughing AT you" she claims clearly pointing out her loatheness of him, hiccup on the other hand just stands still, he still had no clue how to respond, what should he say after being laughed at, it's not like it hurts or anything he's used to being laughed at all his life so what difference would one person really make.. The problem was he had no idea how to react to her statement without getting himself into more trouble, so he decides to go back to plan A which is getting the hell outta this gym

"Ok.. My bad so.. We good? everything's cleared up, you know who I am, you saw my face, you're laughing At me not With me.." He says rather calmly being bullied probably made him more relaxed in this sort of situations, it was different when he thought he was actually talking to someone, having a normal conversation it made him nervous, especially with a pretty girl, but talking to a bully, it's like second nature to him

"can I Finally take my leave.. mam?" He asks, maybe a little bit to formal for his taste but still its what he wanted to say, astrid was confused at his question, for the first time she didn't know what to say, should she just say yes and allow him to go, i mean what else is there to say.. She can't just bully him out of thin air that would be incredibly petty of her and besides it doesn't even seem to bother him that much, and even if she wanted him to stay what would've she said? No you can't leave because i still want to make fun of you, like anyone's gonna stick around just to get bullied. Astrid just tries to be cool and just crosses her arms

"whatever.. Your face's starting to get really annoying anyway.." She says while turning her back to him and heading straight for the bench hiccup just chuckles a little bit

"I'll take that as a yes" and heads towards the back exit of the gym instead, he remembered his missing ball after his little chat with astrid, the girl who got it lost in the first place, hiccup was never one to hold on to a grudge i guess he didn't really need an apology to forgive someone, not that He's expecting anything from her, the way their conversation was heading he'd be lucky just to leave the gym unharmed. so suddenly recalling his ball, he quickly changes his plans, from finding gobber to finding the ball instead, astrid notices the sudden change of direction and asks him out of curiosity

"where do you think youre going? the exit's that way" she smugly says while pointing her finger towards the front door, hiccup was slightly surprised why would she keep talking to me, i thought we were already done with the talking part, he thought. but never the less hiccup answers

"i just came in through that door.. wouldn't that make it the entrance? and this the exit" he says while walking towards the back door, astrid just realizes how pointless there conversation was, she just sits back and exhales, why would she even keep talking with this loser, well anything's more interesting when you're doing nothing, even hiccup

"..sigh.. Forget i even asked.. go where ever the hell you want" she calmly replies, closing her eyes maybe trying to catch up on some much needed sleep, but as soon as she closes her eyes she hears a loud thud noise coming from the back exit, she opens her eyes, and tries to find the cause of the noise.. augh hiccups still here? What's he doing on the ground hey who's that big guy? Wait i think it's... gobber?...

End of chapter Five


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After hiccup and Astrid's weird confrontation in the gym, hiccup decides to continue the search for his ball he walks across the hardwood floor and heads to the back exit, astrid on the other hand grew tired of waiting for gobber, but what else is there to do, on a sunday? If not for training all of her plans are just the same old stuff, hanging out with scott or watching a movie at home and she'd rather not go to both. She just exhales in complete exasperation, right now even the least popular guy seems interesting, but she scoffs at the thought of further talking with him she wanted to get even with him for beating her every year but revenge can wait. So she settles for a nap instead, she's still quite frustrated at her coach for making her wait for almost an hour, but she reassures herself that She'll get even with gobber somehow. She closes her eyes, resting her head onto the wall near the bench she was sitting on, she could feel herself slowly relaxing, it's obvious she's still sleepy, she needed a break, but breaks aren't included in Astrids dictionary, to her taking breaks doesn't get you where you want to be. She's starting to drift off when a loud thud noise wakes her back up again she stands up looking at her surroundings and spots hiccup sitting on the floor and who's infront of him none other than her coach

"Oh sorry lad.. Didn't see you there" he says while scratching his neck with his hook. Hiccup regains his balance and stands up, brushing whatever dirt got on the back of his pants

"Oww.. Why do i always.. end up on the floor whenever i bump into you?" he says with a hint of frustration in his voice, astrid just looks on in curiosity, why does coach know that dork and why does that dork know coach, and why is he calling him by his nickname

"Nevermind that, where the hell have ya been? I've been looking all morning for ya" he says

"What? I've been here the whole time?.. You said i can't skip practice.. so here i am" he says

"Oh right.. I forgot all about that" he says while scratching his head, after hearing his answer astrid gets even more frustrated. Finding out that the reason she waited so long in the gym was because of her coach completely forgetting about their one-on-one training, and why's that? All because he was too busy trying to find some nerdy kid, she stood up with a loud step and quickly enters the conversation

"Oh! coach gobber? Why in the world would YOU be here?" She exclaims with a sarcastic and irritated tone of voice, gobber finally noticed astrid as she was walking towards the two of them, his eyes shot wide open, and suddenly it dawned on him they were supposed to have a private training session every sunday

"Astrid.. Was it sunday already?.. I-i almost for-" but before he can finish his sentence astrid cuts him off

"Forgot? Forget what coach?" She asks sarcastically but stares at gobber who just stares back

"Ok.. i get it, I'm sorry lass i was busy-" astrid cuts him off again but raises her voice this time

"Busy!? I just heard you talking with that nerd!" she points her finger at hiccup who looks ar it and gulps suddenly fearring for his safety

"Oh.. Really? W-what did ya hear?" Gobber asks fearing whatever she's about to say next

"Nothing much.. mostly bout you forgetting our training, and letting me wait here for an HOUR!" Astrid nearly shouts, hiccup and gobber both flinch at the girls loud declaration

"Relax I'm sorry lass, but I'm here aren't i?" He gestures to himself "and look what i just found" he says giddily while gesturing his hands to hiccup

"Great.. You discovered a nerd.." She says while looking at hiccup and scoffing, clearly she wanted to piss hiccup off. She sets aside her anger towards coach for another day atleast, she wanted to focus on the main problem infront of her and that was hiccup. All she wanted to do was make fun of hiccup, but she genuinely looked half disgusted and half curious at Gobber's words. hiccup on the other hand looks at her and notices her stare. He knew right away what she was trying to do he just stares back and fakes a hurt expression, placing his hand on his chest and grasping it.

"Ouch, that stings I'm right here.. You know" he says while looking at astrid, gobber stops what he thinks was already an argument between the two

"Ok, ok.. I know he's not much" he looks at hiccup and hiccup just sighs hearing gobbers assumption of him

"Really gobber? Not much" astrid snickers and gobber goes on with his sentence

"Let me finish lad" gobber says and hiccup sighs again nodding, signalling him to move on

"Ok, where was i-" astrid eagerly answers his question and says "you were saying he's not much" and hiccup looks at her again feigning the same hurt expression he made earlier. gobber disregards hiccups reaction and resumed his speech

"Oh Right, ..cough.. i know he's not much BUT.. He makes up for it with outstanding effort" hiccup laughs a bit

"So you're saying I'm practically useless but you're giving me an A for effort" he says sarcastically while giving himself a facepalm, astrid lets out a short but rather loud snort, in a laughy kinda way not in a piggy kinda way, that catches both hiccup and Gobber's attention but mostly hiccups. Hiccup was shocked, in his head he was thinking that in some weird turn of events he actually made her laugh but nah.. it's probably nothing it's not even a full laugh it was just a snort barely even a laugh. He looks at astrid who notices his gaze and in an instant the slight giggle that she let out turned into a death glare followed by a verbal counter

"What!? I can't laugh anymore?" she says angrily, hiccup in response raises both of his arms in a surrendering fashion

"You were laughing?" Asked gobber "more like snorting" said hiccup correcting his friends words. Astrid on the other hand was not pleased at all who was he to make fun of her, a lowly nerd teasing astrid the whole thought just aggravates her. Astrid grabs hiccups shirt with one of her fist and pulls him down slightly just enough so her other fist could reach his face but first she looks him straight in the eyes and exclaims

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Hiccup shocked at astrids rough actions had nothing to say probably because of her overall intimidating presence knocked the sarcasm out of him, even though he's visibly taller than her it kinda feels like she's staring down on him. But here comes gobber to the rescue, he brakes them up

"Woah, Let go of him astrid" as he pries her hands off of his shirt astrid reluctantly lets go but is still visibly frustrated

"It's his fault for being so damn irritating" hiccup regains his senses the moment he's not staring face first at her anymore, he snaps back and says

"Me!? You're the one being so violent all of a sudd-" but before he can finish his reply astrid lunges at him again

"Ok that's it augh!" but is stopped by gobber midway, hiccup can't help but be thankful gobbers in between, if he wasn't here he would've probably gotten a black eye and a few broken bones or something. He takes a few steps back; probably figuring out that safety should be his first priority when starting a conversation with astrid. Gobber successfully holds her off

"Alright, alright! Already" astrid stops fussing and pushes gobber away from her, gobber just sighs in complete exasperation

" ..sigh.. Great, it's nice to see you two already getting along soo well" gobbers says with an obvious sarcastic tone to which both of them eagerly replied

"She/He started it!" Followed by another simultaneously answer

"Me!" And once again astrid lunges for him but once again gobber gets in between them he pushes astrid enough to make her back off for a few seconds and exclaims

"Enough! I've had it with you two!" The large man shouts, astrid tries to answer back

"Coach he's the on-" gobber stops her "you! shut yer mouth, and start running 20 laps aroung the field" he points at the door and looks at her clearly he was dead serious astrid tries to reason with him but if a proper conversation is out of the picture then a good stern shouting might do the trick finally some authority coming from gobber

"But-" befor she can even finish the first word gobber already answers her "Now" then he turns to hiccup and says

"You! Start timing her" hiccup doesn't even try to protest and say anything back he already knew what the answer is anyway so he says it for him instead in a low voice trying to imitate gobbers husky accent but falling quite short

"Yeah, yeah i know.. NOW" but gobber just stares at the boy which hiccup takes as a sign to stop

"don't test me boy" gobber hands hiccup his stopwatch and off hiccup goes to the field, as soon as hiccup leaves gobber relaxes and smiles

"yeah, that's right" clearly boasting the fact that he just set two teens straight and one of them was astrid, his stubborn as hell student. Maybe she's starting to learn how to respect her coach.. Finally. gobber held his head high, proud of his recent accomplishment, he walks towards the door and exits the gym he immediately spots astrid running obediently but strange where's hiccup? Gobber looked around the field and there he was, infront of astrid running with her, oh wait.. He was running away from her.. He lets out a big sigh he should've known better, it's astrid after all. He waits for the two to get closer to him, and when they did gobber grabs astrid and hiccup drops to the ground panting and out of breath, astrid just realizes that gobber was there all along, so she just smiles at him and says

"What? You said i should run 20 laps right? 5 more and I'm done" she tries to break free from his grasps but gobber only held her tighter

"I did, but why did he have to run to?" Gobber asked with a serious expression

"Like i give a crap bout him, i was just minding my own business, he just started running infront of me" astrid said while looking at the boy and then looking at gobber who gives her a disappointed look "what did i do?" Then hiccup tries to speak but fails as he catches his breath between his words

"Lies ..heavy breaths.. She was ..heavy breaths.. Gonna ..heavy breaths.. Kill me" the boy said while heavily panting trying to regain the much needed oxygen that he lost running from the hostile teen. Astrid scowls at the boy but immediately turns to face her coach, putting on an innocent smile. Gobber on the other hand stares at the sky for a few seconds and then takes a quick look at both of them

"Oi.." He says in complete exasperation "this" while pointing at the two in a collective manner "has to stop.."

"Then just kick his butt back home and let's get started with my training already" she says while looking at hiccup in a smug fashion, hiccup finally composes himself and was breathing normally. He stands up from his kneeling position and agrees with the girl

"Yeah, she has a point, clearly neither of us want to see each other soo.. Can i?" He says pleading with the one legged man

"NO, no one's going anywhere, you're both staying here wether you like it or not" he says with every bit of his authoritative face and voice, both of them did not find the idea the least bit appealing and visibly their faces were showing disappointment and frustration, well hiccup was disappointed and astrid was obviously frustrated. Hiccup tries to plead his case

"Cmon, gobber while I'm still breathing" then he walks up to gobber, carefully ignoring the sharp stabbing stares that astrids giving him and pulls him away from Astrid's side, he whispers something in his ear "please.. i don't feel safe when I'm near her, i mean just look at her, i bet she's planning something to get rid of me the moment you turn your back"

"Then face her like a man, stop being such a wuss hiccup" he responds and the two of them are now engaged in a silent conversation, to which astrid isn't a part of. Astrid sees the two whispering to each other and takes it upon herself to listen; she invites herself and walks slowly towards the two. Meanwhile the two men were too focused on their conversation to notice astrid was already a few feet behind them eavesdropping on their little talk

"Are you crazy, you know how violent she can be.. she'll freaking break my arms off, YOU talk to her your her coach afterall" he says

"Aye, if only it were that easy, the girl's as stubborn as a mule and as violent as a dragon" gobber says and astrid is once again pissed off, she taps gobbers shoulders, and says "what was that?" Both of them stiffen up at the sound of her voice, they turn around at the same time and both of them instantly instantly sees astrid, arms crossed and glaring at them. Gobber coughs loudly, trying to break yet another awkward moment. he then started to speak in a dignified manner trying to seem unfazed by her glare

" ..cough.. As i was saying, no one's going home" he then stares at astrid who is still quite visibly frustrated at him and says

"astrid run another 10 laps" this only aggravates her more she was already finished with warm-ups, she's not training to be a marathon runner for God's sake, she's a volleyball athlete so running another 10 laps doesn't make sense at all

"what!? I just ran 15 laps, I'm sick and tired of running.. let's start with some damn drills already!" She exclaims but gobber was unhinged in his orders, he just stares at her with a complete straight face

"Oh.. is that so, then make it 15 laps" he says sternly and Astrid's frustration rose even higher, she wants to beat him up but she can't just punch a teacher astrid knew better than that, besides hitting a cripple doesn't really sound too good for her so she settles for cursing instead "what the fuc-" but gobber stops her in her rant and offers another 5 laps

"Make it 20 laps" He says and astrid finally gives up and storms off into the track cursing at her coach "damn peg legged..."

"Is it safe to come out now?" The boy half-jokingly says and gobber just laughs with him, it was a rare sight for astrid to be so cooperative, yup that was astrid being cooperative. Gobber was glad someone was there to witness him flex his superiority on her, cause it rarely ever works. "That's how it's done lad"

"Bravo, you were amazing out there, the way you handled the situation" hiccup was already buttering him up for the big question, and gobber was just nodding in his own prideful glory then hiccup finally asked

"You deserve a coach of the year award.. Soo can i go now?" Hiccup looks on to where astrid was running and then looks at gobber just to see what his reaction would be. Gobber's smile turns upside down upon hearing his very persistent request, "Hell NO!"

"But-" hiccup tries to negotiate maybe it'll work but before he can submit an offer gobber flat out denies him, but he offers him something instead

"Do you like running?" He asks the boy knowing full well he'll understand his question and just shut up already but alas hiccup is a persistent nerdy dork

"Cmon gobber.. My ball's still out there, please.. Let me go look for it" he says while gesturing to the black forest right across the field, gobber just sighs in complete hopelessness

"Hiccup.. Understand this.. You'll have plenty of time to go on your ball hunt AFTER.. practice is over" hiccup just sighs i guess he can wait for a few more hours atleast he's not banning him from the forest like last time "fine.. I guess"

"Alrighty then, in the meantime start doing yer job already" hiccup is confused at his words he was the manager right? Then his job would be to manage the balls and equipment and stuff right? But there wasn't any balls around and the net was already set up inside the gym so what did gobber mean when he said do his job? Hiccup reluctantly asks Gobber "um.. By job you mean managing right, handling balls, bringing towels and stuff like that?"

"Well sorta like that.." Gobber sheepishly says and hiccup was not content with his answer he starts to worry, if he wasn't here to manage the team then why the hell would he be here in the first place, he asks gobber again this time being more specific

"Sorta like what? Gobber.. Why do i get the feeling you're not telling me something?" He asks looking all the more worried and slightly peeved at the one legged man for hiding something from him. Meanwhile astrid was already done with the 3rd lap, surprisingly jogging while angry really gets you pumped up and significantly faster, upon arriving at the starting mark where hiccup and gobber where talking, astrid notices them talking in private.. again, probably saying something behind her back, oh no they don't. She slows down her pace and slowly jogs considerably close to the two and overhears gobbers answer

"I may have forgotten to tell you a wee bit of detail concerning your job" gobber says maybe a little bit guilty for keeping it a secret up until now. Astrid hears gobber and was intrigued, the nerds job? Wait is he the new manager gobber wouldn't shut up about, wait team practice isn't until tomorrow so why the hell is he here? She couldn't figure out the current situation so she decides to stop jogging for a second and listen in on the two, both of them were too engulfed in their own worries that they haven't even noticed astrid wasn't running anymore. She arrives just in time to hear Gobbers confession "wee bit of detail?" astrid pondered on the remark, "what's he up to now?"

End of Chapter Six


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